You can learn many spiritual lessons from reading J.R.R. Tolkien.
In The Fellowship of the Rings, the company comes to Caras Galadhon, the City of the Trees and the home of the elfin princess Galadriel. She interviews each of them, and afterwards they recount their experience.
“She seemed to be looking inside of me,” said Sam, “and asking me what I would do if she gave me the chance of flying back to the Shire to a nice little hole with a bit of garden of my own.”
After Sam’s confession, they all in turn share their thoughts.
“All of them, it seemed, had fared alike; each had felt that he was offered a choice between a shadow full of fear that lay ahead, and something that he greatly desired, clear before his mind it lay, and to get it he had only to turn aside from the road, and leave the Quest and the war against Sauron to others.”
“And it seemed to me, too,” said Gimli, “that my choice would remain secret and known only to myself.”
Each of them passed the test and stayed the course, except for Boromir, whose desire for glory and power bettered him in the end.
It is a fitting metaphor for the Quest that God has placed before each of us. There is always the choice of turning from the “shadow of fear that lies ahead” and retreating to “a nice little hole with a bit of garden,” or whatever our particular fancy is. That is why there are so many warnings against it in Scripture.
“For Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me.” (II Timothy 4:10)
“From this time many of His disciples turned back and no longer followed Him.” (John 6:66)
“No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:62)
The test of Galadriel comes to all of us. Let us pay attention to the warning Jesus gave His disciples. “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.” (Matthew 26:41)
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